Friday’s Mini-Report

August 1, 2008

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* Looks like an arrest was in the works on the anthrax case: “A top U.S. biodefense researcher apparently committed suicide just as the Justice Department was about to file criminal charges against him in the anthrax mailings that traumatized the nation in the weeks following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to a published report. The scientist, Bruce E. Ivins, 62, who worked for the past 18 years at the government’s biodefense labs at Fort Detrick, Md., had been told about the impending prosecution, the Los Angeles Times reported for Friday editions.”

* More information on Ivins has been released throughout the day: “Friends, colleagues and court documents paint a picture of a brilliant scientist with a troubled side. Maryland court documents show he recently received psychiatric treatment and was ordered to stay away from a woman he was accused of stalking and threatening to kill.”

* Discouraging economic news: “Stores, factories and other businesses large and small showed workers the door last month, sending unemployment to its highest rate in four years and adding to the evidence an economic recovery remains far off. Employers clamped down on hiring and cut 51,000 jobs in July, the Labor Department said Friday. The economy has shed jobs each month this year — 463,000 in all.”

* Discouraging news on the counterterrorism front: “American intelligence agencies have concluded that members of Pakistan’s powerful spy service helped plan the deadly July 7 bombing of India’s embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, according to United States government officials…. The American officials also said there was new information showing that members of the Pakistani intelligence service were increasingly providing militants with details about the American campaign against them, in some cases allowing militants to avoid American missile strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas.”

* Oh my: “Federal agents may take a traveler’s laptop computer or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed. Also, officials may share copies of the laptop’s contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data decryption or other reasons, according to the policies, dated July 16 and issued by two DHS agencies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.” (thanks to reader M.G.)

* There’s no excuse for this: “The Pentagon defied a Congressional subpoena yesterday by refusing to let the head of its sexual assault program testify at an oversight hearing about sexual assault in the military.”

* What is it about Alaska Republicans that leads to so many investigations?

* Water on Mars. Very cool.

* I guess the Associated Press was unmoved by my criticism — Ron Fournier, who has been the “acting” DC bureau chief, is now the “official” DC bureau chief. (Let this be a lesson to all of us — in the world of political media, failure is rewarded.)

* The McCain campaign, up until recently, referred to John McCain as a “political celebrity” on the official campaign website. Aides have since scrubbed the site. I wonder why.

* I’ve long perceived Slate as something of a center-right publication. Apparently, conservatives don’t see it that way, and have decided to start an even more conservative version of the online magazine.

* Jerome Corsi just can’t change his stripes.

* Zeitgeist won’t like this, but Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) is taking a slight lead in the race to be Congress’ least-sane member.

* There were some additional developments yesterday on the McCain campaign’s “troop” smear, but I’ll let the estimable Christopher Orr have the final word: “This isn’t just remarkably dishonest for a campaign that promised to hold itself to a high ethical standard. This is remarkably dishonest for any campaign.”

* And just a quick housekeeping note for those of you who care about these things, July was the best month in the history of The Carpetbagger Report for traffic. June had set a record, and July saw a 17% improvement over June. Whether you’ve been reading for five years or five minutes, I appreciate your support.

Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.

Seriously, Steve, thanks for all your hard work. You provide clear concise summaries of some of the most compelling political news online or anywhere. You deserve every eye you get. And what, is this the third or fourth day this week you’ve posted 12 or more articles in a single day? Sheesh man, I owe you a beer. And my gratitude.

  • Steve: you are a must read along with TPM, TBogg, Digby, Atrios, Jesus General and the Rude Pundit. they can take their beloved NYT and WP and &*(&() themselves.

  • The laptop search policy is probably constitutional, but it cries out for Congressional action. Customs agents are constitutionally permitted to examine a traveler’s papers and any other luggage accompanying the traveler through Customs, but the invasion of privacy created by a random laptop search far exceeds that which accompanies a search of a traveler’s briefcase. They have caught a lot of child porn, though.

    I really think you ought to re-examine your perspective if Slate is what you consider “center-right.” The magazine may be an equal-opportunity critic but I don’t think on the whole it’s any harder on Democrats than on Republicans. Some columnists (e.g., Mickey Kaus) tilt to the right, while others (e.g., Dahlia Lithwick) go the other way. And then there’s the walking and drinking bundle of political and intellectual contradictions known as Christopher Hitchens.

  • Congratulation, I love the site and articles. I just recently got my girl friend reading your site too. I can’t imagine doing what you do, the time and effort that must be involved. But cheers to you sir.

  • There’s no excuse for this: “The Pentagon defied a Congressional subpoena yesterday by refusing to let the head of its sexual assault program testify at an oversight hearing about sexual assault in the military.”

    Congress has abdicated it’s role as a co-equal branch of the government. If regular citizens (Rove, Myers, Bolten) can blow off congressional subpoenas without consequence why should the Pentagon show any respect for Congress and submit to oversight. It’s not like they’re going withhold funding for Osprey’s are something.

  • Talk about the “Executive Privilege” defence being null and void: How do we know that such members of His Fraudulency’s Great Within subject to subopena thanks to the ruling won’t be playing the Nuremburg patsy of answering “I was only following orders” in a robotic-stylee monotone rivalled only by the rather obnoxious stylee of one Frank Nelson on Jack Benny’s radio programme (as in the long-drawn-out “Yeeeeesssss–?!”)?

    (Let alone the prospect of playing the “flesh-and-blood person” platitude of the Patriot Right.)

  • “…More information on Ivins has been released throughout the day:…”

    Yeah, just like Oswald. It certainly wasn’t Ivins who informed ABC news of the content of the Anthrax telling them to say it had to come from Sadam

    Coming from the same Fort that not only analyzed it but produced it claiming it had an ingredient it didn’t have nor ever had. If you haven’t seen Glenn Greenwald’s article today showing the note accompanying the anthrax and demonstrating how ABC “sources” must have been the ones who perpetrated the anthrax attacks and how ABC still refuses to disclose those perpetrators. Also why reporters and insiders were warned to carry sipco (anti-dose to anthrax) around in their pockets days before the anthrax attacks. A must read….just as wvng…comment #2 stated.

  • What is it about Alaska Republicans that leads to so many investigations?

    One word.

    Oil.

    And its not just the Republicans. Growing up there were two jokes I heard constantly.

    1 – What’s the best investment the oil industry made in the state of Alaska? The state legislature.

    2 – There are two slots on every legislator’s door. One for the mail and one for the payoffs.

  • Yep, resource-extraction economies are prone to corruption the world over. Hard to tell if Alaska Republicans have been more spectacularly corrupt lately just because they’ve been the ones in charge, or if it’s because they follow an ideology of institutionalized selfishness, though.

  • I’ve been rather disturbed by the local news coverage of Ivins’ suicide. It’s basically been “well, apparently the anthrax case has been solved.” The fact that they were about to make an arrest doesn’t prove they got the right guy this time, and I hope it doesn’t reflect the attitude of the investigators; in my view, this just makes it harder to be sure.

    I guess if Hatfill had been helpful enough to off himself, it could have been “solved” years ago…

  • On the housekeeping note, very glad to hear it and hope the trend continues. The content on this site is top notch and its the first place I head for a morning read, often forwarding links to friends and family. Thanks for all your hard work!

  • To Jake NNTO – Steve would be my first site if he got up earlier and got busy.

    /snark

  • Isn’t anyone concerned that our main partner in the Afghan war is actively training and planning for the Taliban? I wonder what John McCain has to say about this since he stated that Obama was too trigger happy when Obama proposed following OBL into the tribal lands? Or is Pakistan still too “sovereign” now that we know they are actually working against us?

  • The “break through” in the anthrax attacks is obviously too neat and too convenient. After almost seven years, just as the Bush thugocracy is on the way out (hopefully) all the loose ends point to a now dead government scientist as the culprit. A lone culprit evidently, and with mental problems to boot. Case closed. Move along. There’s nothing to see here.

    Next I suppose we can expect to see OBL’s head, or someone who looks a lot like him, on a pike to clean up that bit of loose end. OBL has most likely been dead for years, but narcissistic Bush needs to claim “he got ’em” before he retreats into some alcoholic haze in the bowels of Texas.

    Glenn Greenwald is tilting at windmills again, and it pays to read what he says. However, don’t expect any followup from Congress or anyone else. Like all the other curious mysterious over the past 45 years, this one has been put to official rest. Sleep tight.

  • * Zeitgeist won’t like this, but Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) is taking a slight lead in the race to be Congress’ least-sane member.

    I have every confidence Steve King will, before long, pull back into the lead!

  • Leaving aside some changes in policy (totally overwhelmed by those executed by Hon. Sen. McCain), Hon. Sen. Obama has spent this campaign touting his policy ideas, presenting admirable detailed plans, and occasionally pointing out contrasts to his opponents’ ideas and defend himself against incoming negative attacks. He continued this this week. Senator McCain, despite an almost pathological aversion to presenting any specifics, and hardly presenting any coherent plans of any complexity, has spent the past few weeks unleashing baseless and scurrilous nonsense.

    CNN’s asks: ‘Is the McCain campaign succeeding in putting Barack Obama on the defensive?’ So patiently trying to present policy ideas that make sense is now to be considered a “defensive” position, and spewing utter idiocy is “offensive.” In a sense it is offensive, of course, but the idea that CNN is even giving these attacks equal coverage, let alone ascribing to them some political cover is truly offensive.

  • So the first time I ever hear about Bruce Ivins is when he’s supposedly croaked himself right before being brought in as the purveyor of snail mail mit anthrax. One of the big reasons we went to war was because of that mail and one of the big mysteries of the last 7 years was who sent it. And now he’s dead. Like you almost saw him and now you don’t.

    And today I hear words like solved and closure and wrapped up. Very tidy. Very convenient.

    Do read Glenn’s take on the whole thing. It interesting to refresh one’s memory of ABC’s starring role.

    http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/08/01/anthrax/index.html

  • First: Bravo, Steve, and a good sign, too, that people want good reporting, appreciate civility (confession time: you are often kinder than I would be about political foibles), and pay attention to facts. I wish MSM understood this — it’s not just the cost of newsprint that’s taking them down.

    Second, for the open thread: My take on McCain this week is that a) his inability to remember his lies and flipflops day to day or even minute to minute suggests that (while I wish this on no one) his intellectual grasp (never great) is diminishing literally, and that b) this empty-suit quality is what the neocons pulling the puppet strings in this administration want very much. He does what his “handlers” want because there’s no there there of himself, literally (except, maybe, temper). This makes him useful: the behind the scenes puppetmasters have done so well with a somewhat similar empty suit (including temper!) for almost eight years. McC is their perfect candidate for another term (or two or three, depending on his VP) run by the likes of Cheney/Addington. It’s hard for most Americans to grasp, but duplicitous, deliberate harm to the Bill of Rights is what this crowd is all about. One reason liberals keep getting sandbagged is that we are always so surprised at how low they will go, how purely wrong their motives.

  • * There’s no excuse for this: “The Pentagon defied a Congressional subpoena yesterday by refusing to let the head of its sexual assault program testify at an oversight hearing about sexual assault in the military.”

    “A fish rots from the head on”. You don’t need an excuse, when you have an example (precedent). White House has been doing exactly same thing (stonewalling), for over a year, with no repercussions whatsoever. Why shouldn’t Pentagon try it on for size and expect a different outcome, given the wet noodle implants that the Congress has for spines?

  • Hurray to Steve Benen Keep up the excellent reporting.

    Winkandanod said @ 6 ….Congress has abdicated it’s role as a co-equal branch of the government. If regular citizens (Rove, Myers, Bolten) can blow off congressional subpoenas without consequence why should the Pentagon show any respect for Congress and submit to oversight.

    That may be true, but wouldn’t it be better to look in the direction of the REAL culprit: Bush Administration (White House – Supreme Court – Attorney General)

    There are 3 branches that are supposed to be co-equal. Now if you have 2 that are obviously against the other branch. and, you take into consideration that the branch you are accusing of abdicating its duties has:

    1/2 the senate filibustering. Have you noticed that most bills and amendments get voted down because of filibustering, but would easily pass if it was the “Up or Down” vote the Repubs were whining about last year.

    and

    Some of the most ignorant Republicans in the house, combined with some conservative demo(c)rats aka Bluedogs, who can come up with the weirdest objections.

    Now you tell me HOW exactly the Democrats can do more than they actually have accomplished so far? Am I happy? Absolutely not, but I’m amazed that they’ve even been able to get through committee some of the subpoenas.

    Throwing tantrums, like the Republicans, and do the ‘impeach’ thingy, isn’t going to do any good, now that the election is only 3 months away.

    Put the blame where the blame belongs: BUSH cabal. Any sane person has shook his/her head in disbelief about what the Bush administration has gotten away with. It’s so unbelievable, that it’s hard to figure out ‘where’ to start.

  • Great News Steve….you consistently provide timely and sensible analysis of all things progressive. Thanks for all your efforts

  • Now that failing to support the troops has attained the same moral status as beheading kittens while singing L’Internationale the Pentagon is more certain than ever that its appropriations are safe. The Dems and the R’s are united in their bi-partisan desire to vote every military appropriation – no matter how unnecessary, wasteful, bloated, stupid or even criminal.
    Our military has learned from its Commander in Chief: telling Congress to fuck off has no consequences.

  • “* And just a quick housekeeping note for those of you who care about these things, July was the best month in the history of The Carpetbagger Report for traffic. June had set a record, and July saw a 17% improvement over June. Whether you’ve been reading for five years or five minutes, I appreciate your support.”

    You keep making this blog as good as it is, and I’ll keep showing up. I don’t know when I started making it a daily habit. All I know is, this site is one of the most interesting, well-written, engaging blogs out there.

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  • Bruno said: Put the blame where the blame belongs: BUSH cabal. Any sane person has shook his/her head in disbelief about what the Bush administration has gotten away with. It’s so unbelievable, that it’s hard to figure out ‘where’ to start.

    We likely all agree with Bruno, but the Mainstream Media is complicit in actions with this administration in many dimensions. As a core player in bias Mainstream Media especially hate radio continues to dial around contextual spikes of persuasion. We are resilient, yes America is, which means tax money can be funneled legally yet obviously morally, logically wrong for current passionate reasons to do well but inevitably leads to such things as a bridge to no where.

    Even with a token offer of CNN, MSNBC or Fox news of late ratcheting up criticism in what is wrong, Most of what is really wrong in America is the Media. MSNBC builds a frenzy of windowed political analysts that start talking from the perspective of mild manners like Olbermann in his pin stripe suites with an English accent analyst with the same boxy glasses appearing to give an international perspective. Please understand that once I used to adore these two, Olbermann and his interviews with Maddow.

    Sorry but my trust for them is fading fast, especially Chris Mathews, Andrea Mitchell, Mika, or morning Joe all heavy hitters that know how to slice and crave context in something that is not. Also seems like some center players are hanging themselves or committing suicide. Too, too convenient. When stuff like that happened in the Clinton administration the “Media Walling Wall” would bawl, whoop, or boldly vociferate giving America a pseudo relieve or justification, well something was needed to be done. Investigations should be taking place.

    It was interesting were an investment company was advertising on radio that the American economy was in a “Solid Bear” market. For me, this tells me all the richest are selling off while the market is held up by the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Board; American tax dollars supply the down side of the bear market. All controlled by Bush and Company. Oh, yes we get an occasional ass kicking hard story, or “Commentary” Olbermann, Blitzer, or Hannity which many of the stories are designed to do but go nowhere. What America seems to be getting lately are Republicans who want to “Vote”, “Vote”, “Vote” it seems the “hanging cades” have turned into off shore drilling with hanging pile drives that likely will hang on the outer shell for more tax breaks with an undermined amount of production. The whole thing sticks out like a good fart in Blazing Saddles. Here Slim Pickens turned into T Boone Pickens all of a sudden see’s the light. Or screw the Congress on investigations take those subpoena’s and stickem where the sun don’t shine. The Media avoids what is all too obvious, the American Justice system is dysfunctional. The “Judge political connections and timing” in America are the biggest fake in our social stucture. Any one for an eskimo pie?
    Or how about Valerie Plame the greatest diffusion of secret spy stuff that is core to the nuke problems but is buried by Mainstream Media.

    Steve is doing a great job making me think in dimensions I have not done before.

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